Three Tri-City women are up for national recognition this weekend for their mom-friendly businesses.
Coquitlam’s Wendy Armbruster Bell is a finalist in the excellence category of the 2019 Mompreneur Awards for her pump bras.
And Port Coquitlam residents Yvonne Yua of World Financial Group and Drupti Glowinlowski of Bold Looks are battling for a merit prize.
The winners will be announced Saturday at the 7th annual National Mompreneurs Conference, held in Toronto during International Women’s Day Weekend.
The trio is among 28 women selected by Mompreneur Showcase Group, a network of 18,000 members that aims to support, educate and empower female entrepreneurs in Canada.
Mom-of-two Armbruster Bell, who faces six other competitors in her category, started her firm 14 years ago while freelancing in the apparel industry.
Seeing a need to pump breast milk — a task that can take up to 45 minutes per session, several times a day — while still working, Armbruster Bell came up with a fabric bra that allowed her to keep her hands free.
At the time of her design, “there were a couple of products available but they were expensive and had bad reviews,” she recalled. “As an apparel designer, I was not impressed with the functionality of them.”
Through her fashion industry connections, Armbruster Bell was able to open a factory in Vancouver for “some passive income.”
Her business boomed.
Soon, she was dedicated full time to Snugabell (a name that combines her kids’ word for “hugs” and her surname), stitching up pretty fabric bras for new moms nursing their newborns.
Today, Armbruster Bell has sold about 150,000 bras locally through retailers such as Baby’s World, and online; however, most of her bras go to the United States, where — depending on the employer — maternity leave is limited.
Snugabell also employs five women to handle administration, shipping, quality control, marketing and production. “Our mission is to empower moms in their fourth trimester,” she said.
Armbruster Bell said she’s pleased to be a Mompreneur finalist because “it’s a chance for me to raise the awareness for these types of products. No one wants to talk about it because breastfeeding is a taboo subject but a lot of women are suffering out there, trying to make everything work at home and at their job.”
As for Yua, who immigrated from Malaysia in 1993, she teaches financial literacy in women’s shelters and other organizations helping women to get back into the workforce.
And Glowinlowski’s business, Bold Looks, is a beauty and personal care business she founded to help women feel confident, by enhancing their natural beauty.
